“Done some research? That’s good, we appreciate the initiative.” Olmstead tossed a folder across the desktop in front of him. “There’s a lot of hydro activity up in Quebec and New Brunswick, make no mistake about that. Most of the rivers coming off the north coast of the St. Lawrence have a big dam or two. But a lot of that power goes to the pulp mills. With the Jackson project, we want to supply New Brunswick with all the power it’s going to need for years. Down into Maine too. And pumped storage is a safe and effective way to get that power. It involves quite a bit of manpower, but if we can pull it off, this will be one of the largest successful underground pumped storage hydro facilities ever. If you do work with us, you’ll be getting all you can handle.”

David flipped through the folder’s pages, past engineer’s notes, schematics and technical summaries. “Selling to Canadian Power and Light. Big company.”

“That’s right. You’d be involved directly with the planning and development of the lower reservoir and tunnel, and getting us back on track.”

They discussed the plan details for a while before Olmstead took the folder back and stuck it in a desk drawer. “There are plenty of men working on this thing already, but most of them are at our branch offices in Quebec City at the moment. This is a major project, and we want to make sure everything’s done right. After that, there would be an opportunity to stay on in the area and work with maintenance and the lease agreement—that and figuring out how to keep the damn tunnels from icing up. That is, if you’re not bored to death by that time.”

“My wife and I are easily entertained. We both read a lot, watch movies. And Jessica—she’s our little girl—she’s got three or four make-believe friends by now, I think. Maybe this would give me some more time to spend with her. I don’t do that enough.”

That seemed to make an impression. “I know how it is. I was going to ask you about your family. It does get lonely up there, or so I hear. A close family unit is really important to us. We need to know you’re intending to stay around for a while. Anyway, this place is pretty isolated. Bitch of a winter too.”

“Yeah, I read about the problems you guys had keeping it going.” This seemed for an instant a little too critical, and David winced.